British or..?

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://l.thumbs.canstockphoto.com/canstock1320278.jpg
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland


This is just a quick question for those who live or come from United Kingdom or its oversea colonies, do you consider yourself mainly British or mainly English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish or Oversea colony (such as Gibraltar) and why, what makes you more inclined to feel that way?

Will be interesting to see results and reasons given, in recent years of course this has become a hot topic with devolution weakening the union between the four countries that make up the sovereign state of the United Kingdom.


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Flag_of_England.svg/100px-Flag_of_England.svg.png
Flag of England

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/Flag_of_Scotland.svg/100px-Flag_of_Scotland.svg.png
Flag of Scotland


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Flag_of_Wales_2.svg/100px-Flag_of_Wales_2.svg.png
Flag of Wales


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Ulster_banner.svg/100px-Ulster_banner.svg.png
Flag of Northern Ireland (Ulster)



I consider myself British and always have done, I barely feel a connection with the country England and feel more cultured towards Great Britain with its history and just in general with the flag and so on.

[benjamin]

i'm half english and half welsh - but i don't think i've ever actually classed myself as 'british'. weird i guess.

[buttons]

british when england do something good otherwise i say i'm scottish

[Judas]

i just say im english really, never british for some reason

[Callum.]

english, unless murray is winning etc

[Inseriousity.]

I say british. when I say english I think of the language spoken by us, americans, australians etc. British refers to Great Britain/England whatever you want to call it :)

[Deak]

I consider myself to be English but if say it was the Olympics then i support all of the British teams

[dirrty]

i've always said british so yeah.

[Mark]

I consider myself Scottish

[Stephen]

I like to think of myself as african

[Neversoft]

Aha, I saw a topic asking the exact same question on the discussion boards for This is England on IMDb a few months ago. I've never really thought about it myself, but if a foreigner were to ask me my nationality I would usually tell them I am English. I have no problem with labelling myself as British, but the term just seems too vague these days as there are a lot of foreigners and people from other ethnicities who come over and call themselves British and of course the UK consists of not only England, but Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well, so I like to use English as it is more specific and right to me personally.

I thought this was quite interesting;

In their 2004 Annual Population Survey, the Office of National Statistics compared the ethnic identities of British people with their perceived national identity. They found that while 58% of white people described their nationality as "English", the vast majority of non-white people called themselves "British".

[Chris]

Just English really, never British. :L

[Mikey]

I consider myself mainly as Scottish.

[Catzsy]

I am British. :)

[Conservative,]

I consider myself English & French. Unless Andy Murray actually wins something (OMG NO WAY :O!) In which case British...but anyway...

I have blood connections with Ireland & Scotland but I don't really see myself as either, I prefer to think of myself as English because I was born there, that's where I've lived my whole life and that's how it looks like I'm staying.

French - because my family originated from there, I go there a lot for holidays, we have a holiday home there and all that, so I have a greater connection with there.

[lawrawrrr]

I hadn't really thought about if before - but English, because my family had proper olde English roots, basically noone from as far back as we can trace doesnt come from England (yeah, not even britain)

[JACKTARD]

I'd say I consider myself to be British, (I'm English)

Probably because Great Britain sounds better than England

[Nationalism]

English.

[Swearwolf]

pretty much scottish

[Technologic]

Half Welsh, Half Scottish. Family originates from white colonial Kenya. Go me.

Also, i say british.

[GommeInc]

I call myself English. I think it's to sound precise and exact, seeing as there are different cultures regarding the countries that make up Great Britain (and Ireland).

[Casanova]

i'm scottish. if someone asks if i'm english, i say no, if someone asks if i'm british i say no.

I'm scottish, from scotland, as is my family as far back as is known. I am in no way british.

[Alkaz]

I always say that I am British.

[Moh]

I tend to say I'm English. Sometimes I'll say British though.

Some people would class american, canadian and austrialian as english too, so saying british would tell people you're from britain :P

[Sarah]

I'll say I'm Welsh first then British if they have no clue where Wales is!

[Slowpoke]

I consider myself a pre-Turkish invasion Greek-Cypriot

[Jacob]

I consider myself English ;) Always will!

[Meanies]

i say english

[qaxzsw]

Both my nans are scottish, both my parents born in England, so I tell people I'm half-english half-scottish though if i had to pick i would chose scottish

[Casanova]

your nationality isn't what's in your blood technically, it's where you're born.
Yes you can argue you have joint nationality or the bloodline of a country but ultimately it's where you were born. I really get pissed off with people starting the whole.. sister's boyfriends, dad's cousin's daughters son's dog is scottish so aye, i'm a millionth scottish. yeah and I'm all for more lenient immigration laws...

[Shockwave.2CC]

I find myself British

Even if Scotland do hate England

[Casanova]

we don't hate the england, we dislike english people whom believe we are lower than them, we are servants to their queen and country and that in some sense they own scotland? yet they all wanna be one sixteenth scottish.

go post in PAPOY :)

[Oleh]

English. No question about it.

I'm neither Scottish, Welsh or Irish so i have no need to generalize myself across all 4 countries.

[Neversoft]

Some people would class american, canadian and austrialian as english too

People who do that are stupid, if they actually exist. English is the language Americans, Canadians and Australians speak, but everyone knows that if you're English it means you're from England. If I ever meet a person who thinks I am American, Canadian or Australian because I said I was English I would probably facepalm myself to death.

[RandomManJay]

I consider myself British. I rarely ever refer to myself as English unless someone asks me which country I'm specifically from in the UK.

[PaulMacC]

Irish. Born in Dundalk, Republic of Ireland (while parents were at relatives house).

[Ajthedragon]

English. I use the british flag though. :P

[qaxzsw]

your nationality isn't what's in your blood technically, it's where you're born.
Yes you can argue you have joint nationality or the bloodline of a country but ultimately it's where you were born. I really get pissed off with people starting the whole.. sister's boyfriends, dad's cousin's daughters son's dog is scottish so aye, i'm a millionth scottish. yeah and I'm all for more lenient immigration laws...

I call myself scottish even though I was born in england, get over it. I feel way closer to the scottish culture because both of my parents were brought up in scotland.

[Shockwave.2CC]

we don't hate the england, we dislike english people whom believe we are lower than them, we are servants to their queen and country and that in some sense they own scotland? yet they all wanna be one sixteenth scottish.

go post in PAPOY :)


Yeah but the queen is in charge of Great Britain, so that me England Scotland Wales and N Ireland

So Scotland arnt servants to the queen because she's in charge of the British Isles

[Camy]

Yeah but the queen is in charge of Great Britain, so that me England Scotland Wales and N Ireland

So Scotland arnt servants to the queen because she's in charge of the British Isles

he wasnt saying they were, he was just saying he dislikes people who act like we are, they're are some people who do genuinely believe that :l

I would say I'm Scottish if anyone asked, whenever ive been abroad ive spoken to people and they say they like scottish/irish/welsh but dont like the english, so i wouldnt want to associate with england in that sense lol.

[Faboosh]

I am Scottish.

[lol]

i don't see why there is so much divide..
i'm a texan and an american

[HotelUser]

i don't see why there is so much divide..
i'm a texan and an american

There's a significant amount more tension though between countries of the UK and states of the USA though.

[Special]

what's the difference between british and english?

but yeah either british or english lol

[Conservative,]

UGH. This really bugs me:

Just now did 2 questionnaires and they both say "What country do you live in..."

It had NO selection for England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Island or various other British Islands - just "United Kingdom". I'm sorry but if they're going to phrase the question like that, they have to list the countries because the "United Kingdom" is not a country, it is a sub-continent type thing.

Plus I don't like to think of it as "United Kingdom" because of the cultural differences.

[Casanova]

cultural differences? what do we all celebrate different religions, have different festivals, different heads of state etc? I don't really think that makes sense. Britain is all the same from the outside tbh.

Special: to be british is to come from britain ie any of the four countries in the UK.
to be english is to be english? from england?

[party]

I've always considered myself as English.

[qaxzsw]

cultural differences? what do we all celebrate different religions, have different festivals, different heads of state etc? I don't really think that makes sense. Britain is all the same from the outside tbh.

Special: to be british is to come from britain ie any of the four countries in the UK.
to be english is to be english? from england?

Scottish and English culture is significantly different.. for example kilts, bagpipers, hogmanay etc... all are scottish

[-:Undertaker:-]

cultural differences? what do we all celebrate different religions, have different festivals, different heads of state etc? I don't really think that makes sense. Britain is all the same from the outside tbh.

Special: to be british is to come from britain ie any of the four countries in the UK.
to be english is to be english? from england?

There are signifigant cultural differences, although less I will say with one another as compared with the continent for example.

[Catzsy]

There are signifigant cultural differences, although less I will say with one another as compared with the continent for example.

This applies from town to town from city to city, from county to county, from region to region, from country to country and from continant to continant. Depends what the argument is over I guess.

[-:Undertaker:-]

This applies from town to town from city to city, from county to county, from region to region, from country to country and from continant to continant. Depends what the argument is over I guess.

I agree, local dialect for example also differs often - but the gap between the countries of the United Kingdom are far less than the differences between the United Kingdom and the mainland Europe for example, which itself has gaping differences between itself (compare France with Italy for example). The anglosphere shares many similarities, but again it also has large differences.